Polo is a nearly 6-year-old dog who has been with the family for years and considered their ‘first baby’ but the dog would also prove to be their hero after it sacrificed itself during a house fire for the family’s 8-month-old baby to live.

According to mom Erika Poremski, she had left daughter Viviana and their dog Polo at the second floor of the house while she went outside to get something from the car but was shocked to see flames coming out of the house.

Photo credit: Erika Poremski / Facebook

Panicking, she tried to climb up the house and in the resulting adrenaline rush to save her baby, she did not even notice that the skin on her hands and face were burned from the flames. She tried her best to reach the second floor but the fire had spread too fast and the flaming railing caused more injury on her hands.

When the firefighters arrived, they found Polo and the Viviana at the second floor – little Polo was already dead but it appeared that he used his body as shield so Viviana could survive. The baby was unconscious but firefighters were able to revive her on the scene.

Thanks to Polo’s heroism, little Viviana only suffered some burns on her arms and side. Although she and Erika still had to undergo treatment for the burns they sustained, everyone knew that she wouldn’t have survived the house fire had Polo not used his own body to shield her.

While Erika rejoiced her daughter’s survival, she also couldn’t help but feel devastated that Polo died.

Photo credit: Erika Poremski / Go Fund Me

She told reporters that the dog seemed to know that something was going to happen that day because it had been acting strange since morning. She had even told a friend that she might bring him to the vet as he was acting weird – little did she know that it had been some sort of premonition.

Erika knew that the dog could have saved itself as it could easily run down the stairs and out the door by itself yet Polo chose to remain behind and shield the baby without anyone telling him to do so. Thanks to his heroism, Viviana survived the raging house fire!